Considers the use of electronic portfolios in teacher education, evaluating survey responses of preservice teachers who used presentation software and multimedia to recreate instructional units they had taught to elementary students. Respondents rated the assignment positively, noting such advantages as opportunities to learn about educational…

Discusses alternative forms of assessing English as a Foreign Language. Particular focus is on personal-reponse and performance-based assessment, which in congruence with the learner-centered principles of new methodological approaches, treat assessment as an integral part of teaching culminating in formative evaluation. (Author/VWL)

Discusses the need for new student evaluation methods that are applicable to online distance learning in higher education. Highlights include challenges faced in online learning as compared to traditional classroom instruction; types of online assessment strategies and examples of activities, including performance assessments, virtual discussions,…

Describes a performance-based task, within real-life contexts structured specifically for a ninth grade English-as-a-Foreign-Language class. The task--a book project--was used as an alternative assessment of the acquisition and application of English studies as a foreign language in Israeli schools. (Author/VWL)

Discusses writing assessment's recent evolution toward "tests worth teaching to." Urges further departure from accountability evaluation models toward an ecological model (Part two of this article appears in v10 n2 p4-10 Apr 1988; see EJ 371 768). (MM)

Describes the teacher-developed California Assessment Program (CAP) writing measure, designed to support California's reform curriculum and based on matrix sampling techniques. This program will be supplemented by literature and mathematics assessments. The greatest challenge is designing an assessment to match the state's new history and social…

Behaviorally anchored rating scales, designed as a performance assessment tool, are applied to the assessment of student participation in classroom discussion for grading purposes. Specific instructions are given for introducing the scales in class and involving students in their use. (MSE)

This final article in a series on management of instructional development projects focuses on what the project manager can do to ensure that the follow-up evaluation is as effective as possible. Highlights include the development of evaluation tools, implementing the chosen evaluation strategies, and analyzing and reporting the findings. (LRW)

Describes a research project in a third-grade classroom that explored a spontaneous, bottom-up approach to developing and testing performance measures. After establishing project goals for reading and math instruction, the 14 participating teachers worked with University of Colorado researchers to develop summarizing activities, open-ended math…

This article describes an authentic assessment approach used in English/language arts and mathematics with gifted students in Texas elementary and secondary schools, which focused on developing instructional experiences that challenge gifted students and documenting student progress over time. The use of portfolios was valuable for both…

If annual performance assessments are to yield results that can be compared from year to year, many technical problems must be addressed. It is essential that tests to be equated measure the same construct. Methods of equating performance assessment scores, ways of equating system assessments, and standard setting are discussed. (SLD)

Educational assessment concerns inference about student knowledge, skills, and accomplishments. Test theory has evolved in part to address questions of weight, coverage, and import of data. Resulting concepts and techniques can be viewed as applications of more general principles for inference in the presence of uncertainty. (SLD)

The implications for educational and employment testing of recent measurement, social, and policy issues are compared and contrasted. Changes are proposed relative to technical conceptualization of assessment, an increased focus on performance-based evaluation, and expanded expectations and uses of assessment. (SLD)

Peaceful, systemic, educational reform may be achieved by clearly articulating and responding to differences of opinion in four conflict areas: safe passage for traditionalist Christian students, opt-in policies for controversial course materials, parents' rights, and child-centered curricula. Authentic assessment based on community values…

Effects of using different combinations of internal and external matching variables were examined using a generalized Mantel-Haenszel statistic, a technique based on meta-analysis, and logistic discriminant function analysis with data from a writing assessment for over 4,200 8th graders. Results did not support use of an external matching…